Several sources I've encountered on the World Wide Web say that the phrase "back to square one" meaning "back to the beginning" originates in early BBCradio commentaries for soccer/football -- to make things clearer for the listener, the field was divided into numbered squares, and the goalkeeper stood in square #1. (I'm not sure how much I trust these sources.)

Tem42 says the phrase "more likely started in the early 1900s, from the game of hopscotch, where if you make a mistake, you go back to the first square and start again." This makes a lot more sense to me, but I cannot find any support for it in my research; the trivia game at www.boardgame.co.uk/porky_pies-full.pdf is the only one that even mentions this possibility, but states that the soccer one is the correct origin.

Square One was built in 1973, one year before Mississauga became the city it is today. As was the case with many of the buildings in Mississauga at that time, the mall was almost completely surrounded by farm land. Today, Square One is surrounded by Mississauga's City Hall, as well as a large library and a bustling business district.

So many roads to walk upon when I wake up each day,
All I’m ever trying to do is find me the right way.
Sometimes I feel so good about it, I feel like I’ve won…
But then Life kicks my ass right back to square one.

So many ways to think about it, I just want to know
How to view the world I see before me, which way I should go.
Sometimes I’ve got it figured out, but then it comes undone,
And I lie beaten on the ground beneath square one.

I get so confused about it, wanna know what’s what;
Should I save myself or throw my hands up and become a slut?
‘Cause I feel like I have got no feeling where there had been some,
And I always walk in circles ‘round square one.

Sometimes I feel so smart about it, I know I’m the best,
I alone am perfect, flying high above the rest.
At times like these I sit back calmly and bask in the sun –
But a hurricane blows me back to square one.

It’s a long and arduous journey up the mountain that I take,
But if I keep at it eventually the goal I always make.
Took a million days to get here, now finally I’m done –
But a minute to fall right back to square one.

I hate walking through the mire, always being unsure.
I want to find security, that’s what I’m looking for.
So I sit myself down on some spot, but quickly as I’d come,
There’s an earthquake in my paradise,
It shattered all my world, so nice,
I’m left to realize I’m back at square one.

Square one, square one,
I’ve got no ground beneath my feet,
I’ve got nowhere to take a seat.
Square one, square one,
I’ve got nothing to latch on to,
I’m wand’ring free without a clue,
I can’t sit still ’cause I’m unhooked,
But there’s nowhere to go, I’ve looked.
It leaves me hanging in the air
But when I fall down I go off again:

I keep wand’ring, looking for something I want to find,
Pick up many goods, but never really satisfied.
Then I spot some gold and grab it and so tightly I hold on…
But I return emptyhanded back to square one.

I see that all I’m seeing is through my subjective view,
Try to break this habit but there’s nothing I can do,
Unless I think I’m free from it, and if I so should dare…
Then the fall back to square one I’ll hardly bear.

I just want somebody who will understand my mind;
Sometimes I think I’ve found him, and I let myself get blind
As I build his perfect image hope by hope up toward the sun…
’Til it all comes crashing down upon square one.

My head’s full of delusions, for a while they keep me safe,
Show me what I want to see and offer an escape,
But take me off these drugs and I wake up and go insane,
Writhing madly in square one in so much pain.

You’d think I’d learn my lesson after so many a slap,
But I can’t help but fall into the very same trap.
Each time I think I’m “past it,” hits me harder than before –
No ground to walk on, just an ego feeling sore.

I can’t give up the feeling that I want to find my place,
The permanent home of my life’s long chase –
Now finally I’ve found it and it’s called Square One:
So safe inside uncertainty,
Relax beside my golden key –
Until I fall back right onto square one.

Square one, square one,
There’s nowhere that I can go,
All I know is I don’t know.
Square one, square one,
Nothing that I want makes sense,
Cannot live in my pretense,
Don’t have faith in any plan,
I’ve only fooled myself again,
I’ll keep on coming back to you;
Accept that there is nothing I can do.

Sweeping here, sweeping there, coughing at the past,
all the dust taken off, exposing the furnishings' true colors Looking toward the window to see what's beyond
and thinking of the bright possibilities ahead

And in the distance, a dust storm rises and advances,
undoing all of today's progress for years to come